'It was a great race and I think there are even better ones to come.
'Usain Bolt has the best technique out there. I tried to hold on with my technique and I got back on the podium for the first time in 10 years.'
Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic champion, was competing in London amid controversy after serving a four-year doping ban.
He said: 'It feels good, regardless of what I have gone through. I did this for the people who support me.
'This medal is for them and they pushed me when I didn't want to push myself.'
The race had been billed as the ‘hottest ticket’ of London 2012 with people paying prices of up to £725 to be among those in the stadium who could forever say 'I was there'.
In Britain alone the TV audience was expected to be about 15million – a quarter of all Britons – with theatres and cinemas putting on special screenings that had begun in time to the semi-finals earlier in the evening.
Despite earlier heavy rain and soggy conditions, thousands who had been at other venues inside the Olympic park on so-called ‘Super Sunday’ and ‘Showdown Sunday’ stayed to watch the race on the big screens.
Among those watching last night was American Harrison Dillard, 89, the gold medallist from 1948, the last time the Olympics were held in London.
His time of 10.3 seconds wouldn’t have won him a place in the 2012 final.
Bolt at Berlin World Championships 2009
Personal information
Nickname(s)
Lightning Bolt
Nationality
Jamaican
Born
21 August 1986 (age 25)[1]
Trelawny, Jamaica[2]
Residence
Kingston, Jamaica
Height
1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)[3]
Weight
94 kg (210 lb)
'It was a great race and I think there are even better ones to come.
'Usain Bolt has the best technique out there. I tried to hold on with my technique and I got back on the podium for the first time in 10 years.'
Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic champion, was competing in London amid controversy after serving a four-year doping ban.
He said: 'It feels good, regardless of what I have gone through. I did this for the people who support me.
'This medal is for them and they pushed me when I didn't want to push myself.'
The race had been billed as the ‘hottest ticket’ of London 2012 with people paying prices of up to £725 to be among those in the stadium who could forever say 'I was there'.
In Britain alone the TV audience was expected to be about 15million – a quarter of all Britons – with theatres and cinemas putting on special screenings that had begun in time to the semi-finals earlier in the evening.
Despite earlier heavy rain and soggy conditions, thousands who had been at other venues inside the Olympic park on so-called ‘Super Sunday’ and ‘Showdown Sunday’ stayed to watch the race on the big screens.
Among those watching last night was American Harrison Dillard, 89, the gold medallist from 1948, the last time the Olympics were held in London.
His time of 10.3 seconds wouldn’t have won him a place in the 2012 final.